Trouble shooting freezer defrosting issue

Hello everyone. I am having an issue with my freezer not defrosting. It is building up frost on the coils and not staying cold enough to keep things frozen. I have done some research and it appears that it could be either an issue with the defrosting heater, the timer or the control switch for the heater. Is there a way to trouble shoot these items myself with a multimeter or some other device to determine where the break in the system is? Also does anyone have any idea how much either one of those parts would cost to replace?

I have attached a picture if the label inside the fridge so you can see the model #. This is a bottom freezer model and is about 10 years old.

Trouble shooting freezer defrosting issue

pretty easy to do. First find the tech manual, its usually located down behind the bottom grille somewhere. It will tell you how to force a defrost cycle, if it goes into the defrost then your board is bad(most likely) if it doesn't go into a defrost then ohm your heater and your defrost thermo. My experience tells me it will be the board, which runs about $125.00.

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Trouble shooting freezer defrosting issue

Quote:

Originally Posted by hardwareman

pretty easy to do. First find the tech manual, its usually located down behind the bottom grille somewhere. It will tell you how to force a defrost cycle, if it goes into the defrost then your board is bad(most likely) if it doesn't go into a defrost then ohm your heater and your defrost thermo. My experience tells me it will be the board, which runs about $125.00.

Thank you! Unfortunately I lack the time to do the actual trouble shooting. I have a guy coming to look at it. Once he tells me what it is ill fix it myself. So I won't get totally hosed in the deal.